Wednesday, December 3, 2014

CRAFT CORNER: INTERNAL VS. EXTERNAL CONFLICT

by Isabo Kelly

Conflict is the heart of
fiction. Without conflict there is no story. In times past, most genre fiction
was considered to be dominated by external conflict, while literary fiction was
the playground of internal conflict. Times have changed. Most modern commercial
fiction utilizes both internal and external conflict to deepen a story, add
tension, give depth to characters, and add layers that make a story hard to put
down.

So what’s the difference
between the two?

Simply put, internal
conflict is the main character in conflict with some inner demon. This conflict
is emotional and psychological, an inner struggle between the protagonist and
herself. External conflict revolves around the story goal. It’s essentially the
plot. Your protagonist wants something and is prevented from getting it by
external forces. This external force doesn’t have to be a conscious opponent
(for example, if that force is nature). It just has to prevent the protagonist
from achieving their goal.

The most engaging
stories ensure these two types of conflict revolve around and interact with
each other. If the internal conflict doesn't affect the character’s pursuit of
their goal and knock up against their external conflict, readers will feel like
they’re getting two, disconnected stories. Weaving the two types of conflict
together gives layers and punch to your fiction.

The external conflict
will push the protagonist into action, requiring her to make decisions and
difficult choices.

The internal conflict
will affect which choices she makes and the way she feels about her decisions.

A good way to understand
this interweaving is through a simple example:

Jane is left her beloved
aunt’s ranch when her aunt dies. Jane wants to sell her aunt’s ranch because
the life Jane has always dreamed of having is in NYC, but the only person
willing to buy the ranch is her aunt’s worst enemy (EXTERNAL CONFLICT). Jane wants to honor her aunt’s wishes and
memory because she was the only person in Jane’s life who didn’t make her feel
like a selfish petty person, but to do that will require Jane giving up her
dreams and risks her growing bitter and resentful (INTERNAL CONFLICT).

Dean wants to buy his
neighbor’s land because he needs to expand his ranch (a ranch his family has
owned for generations) or risk the business failing, but the person who could
sell him the ranch refuses to (EXTERNAL CONFLICT). Dean has failed in other
businesses—something that resulted in ridicule from his father. He needs to
make this family business a success because he’s desperate for his father’s
approval, but to succeed he’ll have to take actions he considers unethical and
immoral (INTERNAL CONFLICT).

This example
demonstrates several things. First, the external goals of the two main
characters are in conflict, which creates the plot. They both want something
but the other person is preventing them from getting it. Jane wants to sell her
land to someone her aunt would approve of (not Dean). Dean wants the land
desperately enough to run off any other buyers (leaving Jane with few options).
Their internal conflicts complicate how they deal with this external conflict.
In fact, if these were two different types of people, there would be no
external conflict. If Jane didn’t care about her aunt’s memory and wasn’t worried
about living up to the “selfish” title bestowed on her by others, she’d just
sell the land to Dean and be done with it. If Dean didn’t care about his
father’s approval and wasn’t terrified of failing at yet another business—this
one his family’s business—he wouldn’t bother running off other potential buyers
of his neighbor’s land.

But because of who these
people are, and because of the inner conflicts they struggle with, their
decisions and choices affect how the story progresses, essentially creating the
plot out of their character.

Now, if we’re talking
about a romance novel, even more conflict will arise when these two people fall
in love. Most of this conflict will be internal because this is their emotional
journey. But the way they deal with the external conflict will affect how their
internal relationship conflict unfolds: Dean is a country boy whose dreams
require him to live on his family’s ranch. Jane’s dreams revolve around living
in a big city, and she hates country life. Dean’s actions in preventing Jane
from selling her land introduces distrust on Jane’s part and guilt and regret
on Dean’s part—internal conflict affected by their external goals and conflict.

In the end, one will
“win” while the other “loses”, or they’ll find some alternate compromise that
allows them both to leave the situation satisfied—and if this is a romance,
you’ll want to work toward that compromise ending because readers expect the
characters to end up happily together!

Either way, you’ve given
your readers enough conflict to create doubt that you can pull off a happy
ending and that’s what will keep them reading.

One final note: In her
superlative craft book GMC: GOAL, MOTIVATION AND CONFLICT (a book I highly
recommend!), Debra Dixon provides a very useful sentence to define GMC: The
protagonist wants a (GOAL) because of a (MOTIVATION) but is prevented from
getting this goal by (CONFLICT). This same sentence applies to both internal
and external GMC and is very handy in helping to define your internal and
external conflicts.

You’ll notice I used
this sentence structure above in my example. I did this for the very specific
reason that it makes both internal and external conflicts crystal clear when
set against a character’s goal and their motivation to achieve that goal. Creating
an external conflict which is complicated by a strong internal conflict will
add layers and depths to your fiction. Knowing how to weave these two types of
conflict together makes your story impossible to put down and will ensure
readers stay on the edge of their seats until they reach the end.♥

Isabo Kelly is the multi-award winning author of numerous fantasy,
science fiction, and paranormal romances. Her latest release, WARRIOR’S DAWN
(Fire and Tears #3), utilizes both external and internal conflict to create an
intense and compelling fantasy romance. For more on Isabo and her books, visit
her at www.isabokelly.com, follow her
on Twitter @IsaboKelly or friend her on Facebook www.facebook.com/IsaboKelly.